A Combined Approach Using ISSR and Volatile Compound Analysis for Assessment of Genetic and Phytochemical Diversity in Zingiber zerumbet (L.) from Eastern India

Essential oil of twenty-five germplasms of Zingiber zerumbet from different accessions of Eastern India were analysed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC/MS). A total of 29 constituents were identified representing between 72.45-98.93 % of total area. Zerumbone content was found to be in a range of 60.1-79.59 % for the tested rhizomes. Acc. Haroa (W.B) was found to contain highest amount of zerumbone (79.59 %) in its rhizome oil. alpha-humulene, (0.62-7.15 %), camphene (0.91-6.2 %), alpha-fenchene (0.76-5.05 %), eucalyptol (0.21-1.8 %) and camphor (0.79-2.0 %) were found as the other major constituents in all tested oils. According to agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC) and principal component analysis (PCA), the essential oil from collected accessions were divided into two major groups. Furthermore ISSR analysis showed 59.6-100 % polymorphism among the tasted samples. The PIC value and the resolving power (RP) were found to be in a range of 0.37-0.71 and 3.76-12.48 respectively. The unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) cluster analysis divided the germplasms in to two major clusters. Nei's genetic diversity (h) of 0.2874 +/- 0.1592 and Shannon's informationindex (I) of 0.4421 +/- 0.2046 describes a low genetic diversity in Z. zerumbet. Furthermore ISSR analysis showed 59.6-100 % polymorphism among the tested samples. The PIC value and the resolving power (RP) were found to be in a range of 0.37-0.71 and 3.76-12.48 respectively. The results of this study will be helpful in the assortment of appropriate genotypes for different climatic conditions as well as for the conservation and enhancement programme.